Reality Education

Education is undoubtedly valuable if you can put it to use. But, many dollars are being wasted on automatically sending children to college to study for some indefinite purpose or career. Many college graduates still don't know what they genuinely want in life. It's well known that a very low percentage of college graduates work in the same area in which they studied. But, is there any alternative? What do we do with our high school graduates? Is the best answer, "Let's send them to college"? We've had opportunity to try various approaches with the high school graduates in our family. The best results seem to have occurred when the student developed a definite vision for their future and took personal responsibility for educational direction and results. Maybe it would be better for those students who lack focus and vision to get out in the workplace, help with a ministry, or try to start a business. They might discover some real need for some real answers and then be able focus in on a real education. Instead of reality TV, we might have more reality education.

Now that hundreds of thousands of parents have discovered for themselves how the public school system is an incredibly inefficient and ineffective means of providing children with an education, it is interesting to note that some of them are beginning to turn skeptical eyes on the hallowed institution of the university.

I've written before regarding my own doubts about the logic of college, but a conversation with a friend who attended the Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators annual conference last weekend got me thinking about the issue again. My friend, whose wife homeschools their children, had attended a workshop titled "Credentials without College," which resonated with him when he realized that he had never once had an employer ask for his diploma or review his college transcript. - "Nike University" - Vox Day